A young miner from Kurukubaru, Region Eight, is now dead following the caving in of a mining pit during an illegal operation yesterday.
INews understands that 18-year-old Trenston Sebastian lost his life during the tragic incident which took place in the Konawaruk area Mining District Two (2).
According to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), details with regards to this incident are yet to be confirmed, but reports thus far suggest that a pit caved in on Monday around 15:15h killing the youth.
The dredge which was operating at that location when the accident took place is said to be owned by a Sherwin Grenada.
Reports are that this dredge was operating on the property without permission and for which an order to cease work (CWO) had been issued.
“The accident comes at a time when as recently as the second week in February 2016 there was a GGMC conducted Mines Safety Compliance Tour in the Potaro and Konawaruk areas. Several CWOs were issued due to unsafe operations in the Mahdia Redhole, Whitehole and St. Elizabeth areas. This unfortunate occurrence also comes at a time when GGMC had a wrap-up on March 14, 2016 of a first phase geotechnical engineering training workshop involving some 20 technical officers, who over the past six weeks were exposed to applied aspects of ground structural phenomenon, so that they would be better equipped to objectively identify operational issues that could be hazardous in mining…” said the GGMC in a press statement today.
This workshop also allowed participants to become better tooled to work with miners to effect safer solutions; and more proficient at advocating to miners operational awareness for better technical approaches.
“In this latter regard, many of those same officers were involved in a Training of Trainers workshop in collaboration with CIRDI /IDB at Linden R&D and in Mahdia where aspects of Occupation Safety and Health were on the table along with mining efficiency and such, also involving mining stakeholders. This unfortunate accident brings to the forefront that even in the last quarter of 2015, after the horrific Mowasi accident, investigations by GGMC officers on regulatory compliance tours in areas such as in the Cuyuni District, miners continued to have a casual attitude to safe mines practices,” the GGMC added.
